AN INDEPENDENT Kidderminster school has been granted free school status, the Department for Education has announced.

The controversial application for Holy Trinity International School has been approved at the second time of asking, meaning it will be state-funded from September next year. It failed last year in its bid for September, 2013.

The Birmingham Road-based co-educational school - which ranges from nursery pupils to sixth formers - will also have to adopt Worcestershire County Council’s admissions policy and it cannot be academically selective.

Free schools were introduced by the Government to allow teachers, charities or parents to address demand within an area but critics of the move say that need does not exist for Kidderminster.

Headteacher Pamela Leek-Wright said: “This is absolutely fantastic news for the school and for the local community.

“We would like to thank our parents, the school staff and the wider community for their strong support and their huge vote of confidence in our application, which has been totally overwhelming.”

Mrs Leek-Wright said following its free school move, Holy Trinity planned to continue to benefit from the exchange programmes offered by its membership of International Education Systems as well as its extended curriculum activities.

She added: “By becoming a free school we plan to further extend our long-standing tradition of inclusive education with many more local families able to benefit from the school’s excellent educational offer.”

She said from September, 2014, the school’s sixth form would offer the international baccalaureate diploma.

Liberal councillor Fran Oborski, an opposition spokesman on education for the county council, said: “I still do not believe this is needed in the area and I am very worried about the knock on effect for Wolverley Secondary School.

“They are going to have to adhere to the county council’s admissions policy and I hope they will give priority to children in the Horsefair and the area immediately around them.”